C H A P T E R 4 - Installing the RFID Management Console (UNIX)

C H A P T E R 4

Installing the RFID Management Console (UNIX)

The Sun Java System RFID Management Console is a graphical user interface (GUI) for managing the readers and components of the RFID Event Manager. This chapter describes how to install the RFID Management Console.

The RFID Management Console is a web based application that can be accessed via a browser to both monitor and modify the various components of the RFID Event Manager. The console provides a view of the operational state of the readers and components and can be used to quickly assess the status of the RFID Event Manager system.

The RFID Management Console is also used to modify various read and write attributes of the RFID Event Manager components as the system is running. See Sun Java System RFID Software 3.0 Administration Guide for more details on using the RFID Management Console.

The following sections are included in this chapter:

Requirements for Installing the RFID Management Console

Installing the RFID Management Console (UNIX)

Configuring Your Application Server for Use With the RFID Management Console

Setting Up the Database for the RFID Management Console (UNIX)

Starting the RFID Management Console (UNIX)

Requirements for Installing the RFID Management Console

Installing the RFID Management Console has the following prerequisites:

Application server. A supported application server must be running on the system on which you are installing the RFID Management Console. The RFID Management Console is supported using the following application servers.

Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 8.1 2005Q2 UR2

Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.1 2005Q1

Server policy file. You must update your application server's policy file with the RFID server.policy file.

You can select the installer option to have the installer update the policy file during installation or you can perform this step manually after installing the RFID Management Console. See To Update the Sun Java System Application Server 8.1 Policy File to perform this step manually.

Database. A supported database must be available. You need to know the configuration information for your database to proceed with installation of the RFID Management Console. This release supports the installation of the RFID Management Console using the following databases.

Oracle 9i Database

Oracle 10g Database

PostgreSQL 8.0.4

Data Migration. If you have version 2.0 of the RFID Software installed, you need to migrate your database schema to the version 3.0 database schema. See Migrating the Database Tables From Version 2.0 to Version 3.0 Database Schema.

JDBC driver. Copy the appropriate JDBC driver for your database to the correct application server directory. The JDBC drivers are necessary to establish communication between the database and the application server. See To Install the JDBC Driver for Use With the RFID Software (UNIX).

You can do this step either before or after you install the RFID Management Console. If you do it after installing the RFID Management Console, you will need to restart the application server before you can start the RFID Management Console.

Web browser. A supported web browser must be available because the RFID Management Console uses a web browser- based GUI. The following web browsers are supported.

Netscape 7.1

Mozilla 4.1

Internet Explorer 5.0

Note - You cannot use BEA WebLogic Server as your application server for installing the RFID Management Console.

Installing the RFID Management Console (UNIX)

In a typical installation, the RFID Management Console is usually installed on the same machine as the RFID Event Manager. However it is not a requirement to install them on the same machine. The RFID Management Console can be installed on any machine as long as a supported application server is installed on that machine.

To Install the RFID Management Console

1. Review and confirm the requirements for installation of the RFID Management Console. See Requirements for Installing the RFID Management Console.

2. If you have not already done so, get the software. See Getting the RFID Software and the RFID Documentation.

3. Enable access to the X server.

% xhost + machine-name

4. Become superuser (root).

% su root

5. Set the DISPLAY environment variable to display to your machine name. For example, using the csh shell, you would type:

% setenv DISPLAY [machine-name:]0.0

6. Start the installation.

a. Change to the appropriate directory.

For web download, change to the directory that contains the unzipped download file, rfid-download-dir/rfidmc.

For CD installation, change to the rfidmc directory for your platform. For example, /linux/rfidmc/.

b. Start the RFID Management Console installer.

#./setup

The Welcome panel appears.

7. From the Welcome panel, click Next and follow the instructions on the installer wizard panels.

Note - When the installer prompts you to specify the path to your installation of J2SE, specify the same path that is being used by your application server.

8. When installation is complete, perform the following postinstallation steps by using the appropriate procedures for your platform, application server, and database.

a. Configure your application server.

See Configuring Your Application Server for Use With the RFID Management Console.

If you selected the option to have the installer update the server policy file during installation, you do not need to perform this procedure manually.

b. Set up the database.

See Setting Up the Database for the RFID Management Console (UNIX).

If you selected the option to have the installer setup the database tables during installation, you do not need to perform this procedure manually.

9. Start the RFID Management Console.

See To Start the RFID Management Console.

Configuring Your Application Server for Use With the RFID Management Console

To configure your application server for use with the RFID Management Console, you must update the application server policy file and install the correct JDBC driver for your database.

Enabling Database Communication With Your Application Server

You must copy the JDBC drivers to the appropriate directory of the application server installation to establish communication between your selected database and your application server. This can be done before or after installing the RFID Management Console. If you do it after installing the RFID Management Console, you must restart the application server to enable the changes.

See To Install the JDBC Driver for Use With the RFID Software (UNIX).

Updating the Application Server Policy File

You only need to update the application server policy file once. If you have already updated the policy file during the installation of either the RFID Event Manager or the RFID Information Server, you do not need to do it again.

If you did not update the policy file during installation, see To Update the Sun Java System Application Server 8.1 Policy File.

To Update the Sun Java System Application Server 8.1 Policy File

Note - The RFID Management Console installer has an option to perform this task. If you selected the option to have the installer update the server.policy file, you do not need to perform this procedure.

1. In a terminal window, change to the directory containing the RFID Software policy file and find the file named server.policy.

This file needs to replace the file of the same name that is located in the application server's configuration directory. The RFID policy file can be found in the following default locations.

Solaris OS - /opt/SUNWrfidmc/policy

Linux - /opt/sun/rfidmc/policy

2. Copy the server.policy file to your application server's configuration directory.

The path to this directory depends on your application server installation. The location might vary depending on your platform and the version of application server that you are using. The default location of the policy file for the supported application servers is /opt/SUNWappserver/domains/domain1/config/server.policy.

3. (Optional) If you are performing this procedure manually after installing the RFID Management Console, you must restart the application server for the change to take effect.

Setting Up the Database for the RFID Management Console (UNIX)

Previous version installed. If you have version 2.0 of the RFID Software installed, you need to migrate your database schema to the version 3.0 database schema. See Migrating the Database Tables From Version 2.0 to Version 3.0 Database Schema.

New installation. If this is the first time that you are installing the RFID Management Console, you need to set up the necessary database tables. You can perform the database setup as an option during the RFID Management Console installation if your database resides on the same system on which your installing the RFID Management Console. If you do not select this option as part of your installation or your database resides on a remote system, use these procedures to manually set up the database tables.

Caution - If you have an existing RFID system that uses a database, you must backup your data before running any of these scripts. These scripts drop and recreate the tables using the new database schema. These scripts do notmigrate your data.

To Set Up Oracle Database Tables for the RFID Management Console

The Oracle SQL scripts to set up database tables and populate them are located in the following directories:

Solaris OS - /opt/SUNWrfidmc/lib/sql

Linux OS - /opt/sun/rfidmc/lib/sql

1. Copy the following files to a directory of your choice on the machine where the database server is running:

oracle_rfidmc_setup

oracle_create_mcschema.sql

oracle_create_mcuser.sql

oracle_drop_mcschema.sql

oracle_populatemc.sql

2. Change to the directory where you copied the scripts.

3. In a terminal window, log in as superuser (root).

4. Log in as user oracle.

# su - oracle

5. Run the script:

# ./oracle_rfidmc_setup

To Set Up PostgreSQL Database Tables for the RFID Management Console

The PostgreSQL scripts to set up database tables and populate them are located in the following directories:

Solaris OS - /opt/SUNWrfidmc/lib/sql

Linux OS - /opt/sun/rfidmc/lib/sql

1. Copy the following files to a directory of your choice on the machine where the database server is running.

postgres_rfidmc_setup

postgres_create_mcschema.sql

2. Change to the directory where you copied the scripts.

3. In a terminal window, log in as superuser (root).

4. Log in as user postgres:

# su - postgres

5. In a terminal window, run the script:

#./postgres_rfidmc_setup

6. Confirm that your PostgreSQL server is configured to enable incoming TCP/IP connections. This is not the default setting.

This is necessary even when the database server is running on the same host as your application server. See the PostgreSQL server administration documentation for further information.

Starting the RFID Management Console (UNIX)

If the RFID Event Manager is not running, you cannot access many of the RFID Management Console screens. The RFID Management Console needs to connect to the Jini Lookup Server (part of the RFID Event Manager) in order to access information about the RFID readers.

To Start the RFID Management Console

1. Start the RFID Event Manager.

See To Start the RFID Event Manager.

2. Confirm that your application server is running.

3. (Optional) If you want to see a running reader, you also need to start the pmlreader utility or an actual RFID reader (with tags in view) on your RFID network.

In a command window, change to the default rfid-install-dir/bin and type:

./pmlreader

4. Open a supported web browser and enter the RFID Management Console URL.

The URL is of the following format: http://hostname:port-number/sdui.

Host name. The variable, hostname, is the name of the system where the management console software is deployed. You can also use the IP address to specify the host.

Port number. The variable, port-number, is the HTTP port number of your application server. An example is http://myhost:8080/sdui.

The RFID Management Console login screen appears.

5. Log in to the RFID Management Console by typing the default admin user name and password.

The default user name is admin. The default admin password is admin.

6. (Optional) See the Sun Java System RFID Software 3.0 Administration Guide for details on using the RFID Management Console and setting up additional users.